This Is Why Insects Rule the World
Some clever adaptations have allowed beetles, ants, and more bugs to thrive worldwide—even in Antarctica.
When they fly right up your nose or wave at you from the sugar bowl, you might not be very thankful for insects.
Like it or not, though, you're surrounded—there are about 10 quintillion on Earth, including about 10 quadrillion ants.
Insects evolved 400 million years ago, among the first animals to “crawl out of the sea, shake off the mud, and ... get wings,” says Katy Prudic, an entomologist at the University of Arizona.
“When Earth’s oxygen levels shrank, so did the insects”—allowing them to breathe and escape predators more quickly.
Insects evolved to be so tough and adaptable that they survived several mass extinctions. (The only exception is the Permian-Triassic, about 252.2 million years ago, in
